


Forgetting to Call

by overratedantihero



Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Communication, Cuddling, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 17:17:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9451979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overratedantihero/pseuds/overratedantihero
Summary: Hal forgets to call after being away longer than he intended and Barry isn't pleased.





	

When Hal touched down in Central City, it was well past midnight. The usually quiet town (well, relatively quiet, assuming the Rogues weren’t afoot) was deathly quiet in sleep. Hal slipped the ring from his finger and shoved his hands into the pockets of his dad’s bomber jacket as his Green Lantern Corps uniform faded away. The night was crisp, and he was exhausted. How long had it been since he last touched down on earth? Three weeks? Four? It was difficult to keep track of time when in the field. It was also difficult to keep in touch with his… boyfriend? Best friend? With Barry. He had promised Barry this time around that there’d be updates. Hal kept that promise… at first. But hell, Hal could hardly keep up with his bills in Coast City, much less intergalactic communication. After the first couple of check-ins, he dropped off the grid.

But of all people, Barry Allen should understand that sometimes disappearing just happens. Barry “Trapped in the Speedforce” Allen really and truly couldn’t cast a stone on Hal. Hal “Forgot to Let Sort of Boyfriend Know He’s Alive” Jordan. Whatever. Barry knew what he was signing up for when they first agreed to this relationship. The entirety of their friendship was similar: Hal showed up and acted right when it was important, he slacked off when it wasn’t. Keeping watch over his Sector classified as important. Unnecessary check-ins had to be sacrificed sometimes.

Hal turned a corner and headed down a side street. It would extend his walk by a few blocks, but better a longer walk than a passerby seeing his descent and then his immediate destination.  He didn’t really suspect he had a tail, but he could just hear Bruce’s irritatingly put-on growl chastising him for leading a stranger, or worse, straight to where he slept.

The longer route brought him past a convenience store. Perking up, he decided he wouldn’t show up empty handed and out of the blue at the same time. Hal ducked in and bought a couple of sodas, a few protein bars, and several, _several_ , bags of chips. The shop attendant raised her eyebrows.

“Hungry?” She smirked, filling a third plastic bag. Hal leaned on the counter and grinned to buy time as he tried to conjure up a good reason for buying an army’s worth of junk food this late at night.  

“It’s for a friend. Dude gets ferociously hungry when drunk.”

“It’s a Wednesday. Does your friend often get drunk in the middle of the week?”

Hal shrugged, paid with his last functional credit card, and took his bags. He gave the clerk a wave before leaving.

About ten minutes later, Hal was standing outside Barry Allen’s apartment door. He shifted the bags to one hand so that he could feel for a spare key underneath the door mat. Finding none, he tried on top of the doorframe. Nothing. He sighed and slipped his ring on, his uniform materializing. Hal floated up and sure enough found a spare key tucked in between the ceiling and crown molding. Returning to the ground, he unlocked the door and slipped in as quietly as he could what with several rustling plastic bags in tow.

Once he was in, he gingerly shut the door so as to not make a sound. The bags were abandoned in the foray and he slipped his ring back into his coat pocket. Soon he was leaning against the doorway of the master bedroom.                  

From there he saw that Barry was fast asleep, his breathing marked by the rise and fall of the blanket in which he was tangled. The entire room was washed in a soft pre-dawn glow courtesy of the far window. The image was so peaceful that Hal was almost sorry to disturb it. Almost.

He strode in, transferring his ring from pocket to bedside table (right next to Barry’s own). Shrugging off his coat and slipping off his shoes, Hal slid into bed behind Barry. The latter groaned and then rolled over to face the intruder.

“Mm. You didn’t call,” Barry mumbled, voice thickened by sleep. He blearily blinked at Hal before making a valiant attempt at squinting to appear stern. Hal laughed, drawing out a lazy smile from Barry and shattering any illusion of irritation.

“Barry, my boy, good to see you too.” Hal slung an arm over Barry’s waist and slid his leg between Barry’s.

“ _Jeans_ ,” Barry whined disapprovingly, curling his legs away from Hal’s. “You don’ call for six weeks, th’n you rub y’ur jeans on me,” He grumbled while Hal snorted and undid his pants before pushing them off his body. He tossed them over the side of the bed, and tried again to slide a thigh between Barry’s. This time Barry snuggled closer.

“Has it really been six weeks?” Hal whispered, drawing circles into Barry’s back with his fingertips. Barry’s shampoo smelt like home after so long apart and Hal nuzzled his nose into the other’s hair.

“Five ‘n’ a half,” Barry amended. “Higher,” He demanded. Hal leisurely dragged his fingers up to the nape of Barry’s neck and massaged deeper than he did Barry’s back. Barry hummed and then _vibrated_ under Hal’s ministrations.

“Hey, hey, hey. Don’t do that. I don’t think the sweet old lady in the apartment beneath yours could handle a speedster falling from the ceiling.”

“Not gonna fall. I know better.” Barry stopped vibrating nonetheless, and instead contented himself with nestling his head into the crook of Hal’s neck. “Missed you. Asked you to call,” he murmured against Hal’s skin. Hal’s heart melted. Barry had a habit of poor communication; he preferred to run through his conflicts rather than pause long enough to have difficult conversations. But here, clouded with sleep and in his most vulnerable, Barry was slowing down enough to talk it out with his equally emotionally unintelligent significant other.

“I know, Barr. I was supposed to check in.” Hal continued to massage his neck. He had half expected Barry to pull away in anticipation of an apology, but Barry wrapped his arm around Hal’s waist instead. “I got a little caught up in it, is all. In the role. I should’ve called.”

“’M gonna start assuming y’ur dead. Hittin’ up Snart for drinks instead.” Barry tightened his grip just as Hal tried to squirm away.

“You wouldn’t!”

Barry smirked. “Would too.”

“You don’t even get drunk!” Hal huffed, taking to scratching Barry’s head despite Barry’s threat of betrayal. Barry just barely vibrated, as if Hal wouldn’t notice. Hal pretended that he didn’t.

“Doesn’ matter. It’s the thought that counts,” Barry mumbled.

“That’s not how drinking works,” Hal whined. “Besides. You’d miss me too much. And just because you pretended I was dead wouldn’t mean I was actually dead. I’d just come back around and bother you instead of sleeping with you. I’d interrupt your dates. I’d hide all of your clean socks. I’d replace all of your lab chemicals with Kool-Aid.”

“Mhm. My favorite bother. Didja find the key okay?” Hal would have snorted over the nonchalance, but Barry had reminded him:

“What the hell was with the key? I had to use my ring to reach it. Strange choice, Allen.”

Barry pulled away to smile up at him. “It wasn’t strange. It was for you, so I made it hard to reach for anyone but you.”

“Yeah, me, or Clark, or Diana, or Bruce, or another Green Lantern- really, anyone with a ladder. Hide your key better, Barr.”

“Fine. I’ll stop leaving a key,” Barry grumbled, untangling himself from Hal and rolling back over. “’S not like you call anyway.” Despite his teasing, it looked like Barry really was mad about Hal disappearing. Hal groaned and wrapped his arm around Barry’s waist, pulling him close as he buried his face in the back of his neck and spooned him.  

“Hey, now. C’mere. You can’t possibly be awake enough to get annoyed with me that easily.” That was untrue. Barry was very awake now that Hal had finally returned Earthside, and if he wasn’t containing himself so tightly then he would have shot electricity in his excitement. But he wasn’t about to tell Hal that. Barry went limp and pretended to be asleep instead.

“Don’t do that either,” Hal said, skittering his fingertips down Barry’s side. Hal had accidentally discovered that Barry was ticklish during a more intimate occasion. He had never taken advantage of that knowledge, until then. The speedster’s eyes shot open and suddenly he was across the room, arms crossed, lips set in a tight frown.

“Rude.”

“You drove me to it, babe,” Hal cooed, stretching out and tucking his hands behind his head. “Want to talk? Or are you going to keep pouting?”

“I’m not pouting,” Barry shot back. He paused, to pout, before continuing, “But seriously. Call next time. If not while you’re away, then before you show up in my room. I know neither of us is interested in interrupting our other jobs for each other, but I want to know if you’re okay. I want to know if I should leave a key out. Stuff like that.”

Hal sat up and crossed his legs as Barry spoke. He listened without interrupting. The irony of Barry’s complaints wasn’t lost on Hal- this was the same Barry who let his ex-girlfriend think he was dead, even as he interacted with her as the Flash. Barry who sometimes disappeared into a space-time-energy dimension. Barry who preferred to run from interpersonal conflicts in favor of his alter ego. It said something that that same Barry (who, just to reiterate, once faked his own death rather than talk to his loved ones) was standing before him, irked over a phone call (or lack thereof). Hal listened, but when Barry fell silent, he cleared his throat.

“I hear you, Barr, I do. But, I’m not interested in you staying out of my ‘other job.’ You’re a part of my other job. The Green Lantern works with the Flash. So don’t separate it like that. But yeah, I should have called. How about this: I’ll call when I leave Earth, when I’m staying out on a mission longer than I thought, and when I get back. Fair?” Maybe Hal was a hypocrite for lecturing about communication and playing at being responsible when most of his life was in shambles outside of his relationship with Barry. But that was just it: he could handle the chaos elsewhere. He needed what he had with Barry to be stable.

Barry nodded, his frown no longer touching his eyes.

“And in exchange leave me a note if you go trounce through the speedforce, and maybe consider hiding your key better. So that, you know, I don’t walk in and find Leonard Snart in your bed.”

At that, Barry thawed and he grinned, uncrossing his arms. “You’re obsessed with Snart. I was only joking when I threatened to leave you for him.”  Hal blinked and suddenly Barry was back in the bed, his head resting in Hal’s lap.

“I’m not obsessed with Snart! It’s your fault his name was on my mind,” Hal said, scratching Barry’s hair. Under Hal’s touch, Barry started vibrating again and Hal didn’t chide him for it. Which reminded him, “Oh- and try to keep from vibrating right through the floor when you hear this- I brought snacks. One of the sodas is mine, though, so lay off.”

Barry broke out into a grin and he kissed Hal’s knee. “Was that going to be your peace offering?” He asked, sitting up long enough for Hal to sink down beside him. Barry tucked himself under Hal’s arm and rested his head on Hal’s chest.

“Sort of. It’s always easier to forgive someone who has snacks.” Hal shrugged. “Do you want me to go grab them?”

“I want to sleep,” Barry murmured. “I have work tomorrow. It’s Wednesday.”

“Right, that’s what the convenience store clerk said too.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Go to bed, I’ll be here in the morning.” Hal kissed the top of Barry’s head. A few seconds later Hal leaned in and whispered in the speedster’s ear, “But seriously, if I wake up and my soda’s gone, we’re so done.”

 

                                                                                                                                   


End file.
